PARIS (Reuters) - After backing calls by Muslims forrespect for their religion in the Mohammad cartoons row, theVatican is now urging Islamic countries to reciprocate byshowing more tolerance toward their Christian minorities.

Roman Catholic leaders at first said Muslims were right tobe outraged when Western newspapers reprinted Danishcaricatures of the Prophet, including one with a bomb in histurban. Most Muslims consider any images of Mohammad to beblasphemous.

After criticizing both the cartoons and the violentprotests in Muslim countries that followed, the Vatican thisweek linked the issue to its long-standing concern that therights of other faiths are limited, sometimes severely, inMuslim countries.

Vatican prelates have been concerned by recent killings oftwo Catholic priests in Turkey and Nigeria. Turkish medialinked the death there to the cartoons row. At least 146Christians and Muslims have died in five days of religiousriots in Nigeria.

"If we tell our people they have no right to offend, wehave to tell the others they have no right to destroy us,"Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State (primeminister), told journalists in Rome.

Reciprocity -- allowing Christian minorities the samerights as Muslims generally have in Western countries, such asbuilding houses of worship or practicing religion freely -- isat the heart of Vatican diplomacy toward Muslim states.

Vatican diplomats argue that limits on Christians in someIslamic countries are far harsher than restrictions in the Westthat Muslims decry, such as France's ban on headscarves instate schools.

Saudi Arabia bans all public expression of any non-Muslimreligion and sometimes arrests Christians even for worshippingprivately. Pakistan allows churches to operate but its Islamiclaws effectively deprive Christians of many rights.

Both countries are often criticized at the United NationsHuman Rights Commission for violating religious freedoms.

"ENOUGH TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK"

Pope Benedict signaled his concern on Monday when he toldthe new Moroccan ambassador to the Vatican that peace can onlybe assured by "respect for the religious convictions andpractices of others, in a reciprocal way in all societies."

He mentioned no countries by name. Morocco is tolerant ofother religions, but like all Muslim countries frowns onconversion from Islam to another faith.

Iraqi Christians say they were well treated under SaddamHussein's secular policies, but believers have been killed,churches burned and women forced to wear Muslim garb sinceIslamic groups gained sway after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Christians make up only a tiny fraction of the populationin most Muslim countries. War and political pressure in recentdecades have forced many to emigrate from Middle Easterncommunities dating back to just after the time of Jesus.

As often happens at the Vatican, lower-level officials havebeen more outspoken than the Pope and his main aides.

"Enough now with this turning the other cheek! It's ourduty to protect ourselves," Monsignor Velasio De Paolis,secretary of the Vatican's supreme court, thundered in thedaily La Stampa. Jesus told his followers to "turn the othercheek" when struck.

"The West has had relations with the Arab countries forhalf a century, mostly for oil, and has not been able to getthe slightest concession on human rights," he said.

Bishop Rino Fisichella, head of one of the Romanuniversities that train young priests from around the world,told Corriere della Sera the Vatican should speak out more.

"Let's drop this diplomatic silence," said the rector ofthe Pontifical Lateran University. "We should put pressure oninternational organizations to make the societies and states inmajority Muslim countries face up to their responsibilities."